'Too Much of a Good Thing' -- Shining Mountains dinner Nov. 4 in Estes Park

By Juley Harvey Trail-Gazette

Posted:
10/28/2012 10:02:00 AM MDT

Bill Bowman

Learn why "Too Much of a Good Thing Can Be Bad For Mountains" at the annual Shining Mountains Group dinner Sunday, Nov. 4, at The Crags The View Restaurant at 300 Riverside Dr., Estes Park, from 5 to 9 p.m. The social hour begins at 5 p.m., with dinner following, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and the program, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. The public is invited to join Colorado Mountain Club members in an evening devoted to good things.

Dr. Bill Bowman, fellow and director of the Mountain research Station of INSTAAR, and professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, will discuss how nitrogen affects the alpine ecosystem and its responses to too much of a good thing. Bowman will be introduced by Dr. Timothy Seastedt, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Industrial development and

the manufacture of fertilizer has had unintended consequences for natural ecosystems, and inputs of reactive nitrogen has increased substantially in the Rocky Mountains in the last 50 years.

It may be hard to notice now, but according to a new study from the University of Colorado, the extra sprouting of a small plant high in the Rocky Mountains is the first indication that nitrogen pollution is altering the sensitive alpine region.

Although plants need nitrogen to grow, extra nitrogen from air pollution can have a devastating ecological impact -- too much of a good thing.

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Bowman, an ecologist and lead author of the study, hopes to show the amount of extra nitrogen it takes to reshape the environment in Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP). Using an indicator sedge plant, he concluded there is already enough nitrogen pollution to affect the area.

"Although these initial changes are fairly subtle, they are a portent of what may occur, and what probably will occur down the road with more serious environmental changes," Bowman says.

"We know, based on other systems that have become acidified, that you begin to lose organisms in the streams and lakes, including fish," Bowman says. "We're concerned about what may eventually happen to trout in Rocky Mountain National Park."

Early reservations for the dinner and talk are recommended, and prepayment must reach Madeline Framson by Sunday, Oct. 28. The cost is $19 for the evening. For more information, contact Madeline Framson at (970) 586-6623.